Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader
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This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Windows tools or features and Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Accessibility help & learning content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.

Use PowerPoint with your keyboard and a screen reader to create, read, and edit presentations. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

A PowerPoint presentation is a slide show. Each slide is a canvas for the pictures, words, and shapes that help you build your story.

Notes: 

In this topic

Open PowerPoint

  1. Press the Windows logo key, type PowerPoint, and press Enter. PowerPoint opens in a view showing recent presentations, a search field, templates, and themes. The focus is on the Blank Presentation template.

Sign in to your Microsoft account

To get the most out of the PowerPoint features, sign in to your Microsoft account.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Open PowerPoint as instructed in Open PowerPoint. You land on the templates view. Press the Tab key until you hear "Sign in to get the most out of Office," and then press Enter.

    • If you're already editing a presentation, press Alt+F to open the File menu. Then press D, S. With Narrator, you hear: “Accounts window.” With JAWS, you hear: “Accounts.” With NVDA, you hear: "Account."

  2. Type in your email or phone number, press Enter, and then press the Tab key. You hear: “Password."

  3. Type in your password, and press Enter.

    Note: If you are using an account in an organization, the sign-in steps might be slightly different. For example, you might need to use a PIN or smartcard.

    Tip: If you did not sign out of PowerPoint the last time you used it, the app opens without prompting you to sign in.

Open a presentation

PowerPoint keeps a list of files you have recently opened, so it is easy to find them again.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Open PowerPoint, press the Tab key until you hear "Recent," followed by the name of a presentation.

    • If you're already editing a presentation, press Alt+F, O. Press the Tab key until you hear the name of a presentation.

  2. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the presentation you want, and then press Enter.

  3. If the presentation you want to open isn't in the list of recent presentations, press Alt+H, Y, O. You can now look for the presentation on your computer or in the network locations you are connected to, such as OneDrive.

    Tip: To search by the name of the presentation, press Alt+O, E and type your search words. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the presentation, and then press Enter to open it.

Read slide contents in Normal view

Each slide has one or more text boxes or other content elements or placeholders.

  1. When the focus is on a slide, press the Tab key to cycle between its elements. Your screen reader announces the element type as you move between them, for example, "Title text box, text box."

  2. To read the contents of the element, with Narrator, press the SR key+R. JAWS and NVDA usually start reading element content when the focus moves to it. If necessary, to start reading with JAWS, press the SR key+Page up. With NVDA, press the SR key+Down arrow key.

    To stop the continuous reading, press Ctrl.

  3. After reading the contents, press Esc to return the focus to the slide.

Read slide contents in other views

In addition to Normal view, PowerPoint provides several other views for working with slides.

  • Outline View. Provides a text-only view of slide contents. To open Outline View, press Alt+W, P, and then O. To switch between thumbnails and the outline in Normal view, press Ctrl+Shift+Tab.

    Note: Screen readers sometimes don't announce Outline View after pressing Alt+W, P, O.

  • Slide Sorter. Displays all your slides in order horizontally in rows so you can cut, copy, paste, and rearrange slides easily. Screen readers identify slides by the number and title. To open Slide Sorter view, press Alt+W, I. To return to Normal view, press Alt+W, L.

  • Reading. Offers a way to review a presentation that is similar to Slide Show view. To open Reading View, press Alt+W, D. To return to the previous view, press Esc.

  • Slide Master. Enables you to make design changes that apply to all of your slides. To open Slide Master view, press Alt+W, M. The Slide Master tab (Alt+M) is added to the ribbon between the File and Home tabs. To close Slide Master view, press Alt+M, C.

  • Slide Show. Provides a full-screen display of your slides for an audience to see while you are presenting to them. To start a slide show, press F5. To advance, press the Page down key. To go back, press the Page up key. To end, press Esc.

  • Presenter View. Work with your presentation with your speaker notes on one computer (your laptop, for example), while the audience views the notes-free presentation on a different monitor. If your computer is connected to a second display screen, when you start your presentation in the Slide Show view, the Presenter View opens automatically on your computer screen. If you're working on a single monitor, to open the Presenter View, press Shift+F10, R.

    To read objects on a slide, first switch the Narrator scan mode on, or with JAWS and NVDA, use the virtual cursor mode. Then use the following shortcuts:

    • To go to the slide preview, press the Down arrow key, and then press Enter to move focus to the Slide Show view.

    • In the Slide Show view, press the Down arrow key to navigate through all of the objects. To read the objects, with Narrator, press the SR key+R. With JAWS, press the SR key+Page down. With NVDA, press the SR key+Down arrow key.

    • To switch back to the Presenter View, press the Down arrow key repeatedly until you hear "Return to Presenter View," and then press Enter.

      Note: If you're presenting without the Presenter View, you won't hear "Return to Presenter View."

For more information, refer to Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations and Use a screen reader to show your presentation with PowerPoint.

Navigate through slides

You can use the thumbnail pane to quickly move between slides.

  1. Press F6 until you hear "Thumbnails pane" or "Thumbnails," followed by the title of the current slide.

  2. When the focus is on the thumbnail pane, screen readers read the slide titles as you move through the slides. To go to the next or previous slide, press the Up or Down arrow key.

Tip: Sometimes, your screen reader loses focus and does not read a slide title. If this happens, press Alt+Tab twice to try to move focus out of the PowerPoint window and back to the thumbnails.

Create a new blank presentation

To get started quickly, create a new blank presentation. You can add a predesigned theme later to give your presentation a polished appearance.

Alternatively, you can create a presentation from a template. For instructions, refer to Use a screen reader to create a presentation from a template in PowerPoint.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Open PowerPoint. You hear: "Featured, Blank presentation." The focus is on the blank presentation option. Press Enter.

    • If you're already editing a presentation and want to start a new blank presentation, press Alt+F, N, then L, and 1.

  2. Press the Tab key to move the focus to the title placeholder on the first slide and type the title. When you're done, press Esc. To move to the next placeholder, press the Tab key and start typing.

    For more detailed instructions on how to add content to your presentation, go to Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint or Use a screen reader to insert and edit pictures and tables in PowerPoint.

Add or change a theme in a presentation

A theme is a collection of coordinated color schemes, backgrounds, font styles, and placement of placeholders. Use predesigned themes to change the overall look of your presentation quickly.

  1. When editing your presentation, press Alt+G, and then H. You hear "This presentation," followed by the currently selected theme.

  2. Use the arrow keys to browse to the theme you want, and then press Enter to select.

Insert a new slide

With the title slide done, you're ready to add slides for the rest of your presentation. Each theme has a collection of predefined slide layouts. For example, there might be a title slide, a slide that includes a title box and a content box, and a slide that's arranged in two columns.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • To add a new slide based on the layout of the current slide, press Ctrl+M.

    • To add a slide that uses one of the other layouts in your chosen theme, press Alt+H, I. The focus moves to the list of slide layouts. Use the arrow keys to browse to the slide layout that you want. To insert a new slide with the currently selected layout, press Enter.

Tip: To duplicate a slide and its contents, move the focus to the slide in the thumbnail pane and press Ctrl+D.

Save your presentation

It’s a good idea to save your work often. Follow the steps below to name and save your presentation for the first time. For information on other ways to save your presentation, refer to Use a screen reader to save your presentation in PowerPoint.

  1. To open the Save As tab, press Alt+F, A.

  2. Press the Tab key once and then press the Down arrow key until you hear the file folder location you want, for example, "OneDrive, Microsoft."

  3. Press the Tab key once to move the focus to the file naming area. The focus lands on the Navigate Up button.

  4. If you want to continue to look for the folder that you want, press Enter. Use the arrow keys or the Tab key to navigate and press Enter to select.

  5. To name your file, press the Tab key until you hear "Enter file name here," and type a name for your presentation.

    Tip: By default, PowerPoint saves your presentation as a standard PowerPoint file, with the file extension .pptx. If you want to save the presentation as a different file type, press the Tab key once, and then press the Down arrow key to browse through the options. Use the Down and Up arrow keys to navigate the options, and press Enter to make your selection.

  6. Press the Tab key until you hear "Save button," and then press Enter.

After you've named your file and saved it for the first time, press Ctrl+S to save your work at any time.

Add text to a slide

  1. To move the focus to a slide, press F6 until you hear "Slide,” followed by the slide number.

  2. Press the Tab key until you hear the text placeholder you want to add text to. You hear, for example, “Title text box, text box” for the slide’s title.

  3. Type the text you want on the slide.

  4. To move the insertion point to the next title or body text placeholder, press Ctrl+Enter.

    Note: If there aren't any more text placeholders, pressing Ctrl+Enter inserts a new slide with the same slide layout as the original slide, and places the focus on the new slide's first placeholder.

To learn more about how to add text to slides, refer to Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint.

Format text

You can use different font styles, such as bold or italic, and create bulleted or numbered lists using keyboard shortcuts. To learn more about how to format text in your presentation, refer to Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint.

Change the font style

  1. In a text placeholder, select the text for which you want to change the font style.

    Tip: To learn how to select text in PowerPoint using your keyboard, refer to the section "Select text" in Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations.

  2. Use the following keyboard shortcuts to change the font style:

    • Press Ctrl+B to make the selected text bold.

    • Press Ctrl+I to make the selected text italic.

    • Press Ctrl+U to underline the selected text.

    • Press Ctrl+Spacebar to remove all styles from the selected text.

Create a bulleted list as you type

  1. At the start of a new line, type an asterisk symbol (*), and then press Spacebar or the Tab key.

  2. Type the text that you want. A filled round bullet list item is automatically created after you press Enter.

  3. To create a new list item, press Enter.

  4. To stop creating the list, press Enter, and then press Backspace.

Create a numbered list as you type

  1. At the start of a new line, type the number one followed by a period (1.), and then press Spacebar or the Tab key.

  2. Type the text you want. A numbered list item is automatically created after you press Enter.

  3. To create a new list item, press Enter.

  4. To stop creating the list, press Enter, and then press Backspace.

Add pictures from your computer

You can use graphics and photos to make your presentations livelier. To learn more about inserting and editing pictures in your presentation, refer to Use a screen reader to insert and edit pictures and tables in PowerPoint.

  1. When the focus is on a slide, press the Tab key to cycle through its placeholders. Your screen reader announces the placeholder type as you move, for example, "Title text box, text box."

  2. When you find the placeholder where you want to add a picture, press Alt+N, P, D. The Insert Picture dialog box opens. By default, the dialog box shows the Pictures folder of your PC.

  3. The focus is initially on the File name field. Type or paste the file name of your picture. To enter the list of matching files, press Ctrl+Down arrow key, and then press the Down arrow key to browse the search results.

  4. Press Enter to insert the picture to the selected placeholder in your presentation.

Add speaker notes

You can put helpful facts and annotations in the speaker notes and refer to them as you present.

  1. While editing a slide in Normal view, press F6 until you hear: “Slide notes, pane.”

  2. Type your notes.

  3. To return the focus to the slide, press F6 until you hear “Slide,” followed by the slide number.

    Tip: Sometimes, your screen reader loses focus and does not read a slide title. If this happens, press Alt+Tab twice to try to move focus out of the PowerPoint window and back.

To learn more about adding speaker notes, refer to Use a screen reader to read or add speaker notes and comments in PowerPoint

Present your slides to an audience

After your presentation is ready, showing it to others is simple.

  1. Open your presentation in PowerPoint.

  2. To start the slide show, press F5.

  3. Press Spacebar to move to the next slide. To go to the previous slide, press Backspace.

  4. To exit the slide show, press Esc.

For more information, refer to Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations and Use a screen reader to show your presentation with PowerPoint.

See also

Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint

Use a screen reader to insert and edit pictures and tables in PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.

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